Mordecai Gebirtig, Yiddish folk poet and songwriter, was born in 1877 in Krakow, Poland. Gebirtig was confined in the Krakow ghetto in March 1942. He wrote "Our Springtime" in April 1942. The lyrics describe the bleakness and despair of ghetto life.

English Language Lyrics:

Springtime in the trees, in the fields, in the forest,But here, in the ghetto, it's autumnal and cold,But here, in the ghetto, it's cheerless and bleak,Like the house of a mourner -- in grief

Springtime! Outside, the fields have been planted, Here, around us, they've sowed only despair,Here, around us, guarded walls rise,Watched like a prison, through the darkest night.

Springtime, already! Soon it will be May,But here, the air's filled with gunpowder and lead.The hangman has plowed with his bloody swordOne giant graveyard -- the earth.